ABSTRACT
As soon as the intifadas, or protests, broke out, a number of practical organizational issues quickly came to the fore, requiring protestors to devise concrete solutions that went beyond speeches and slogans. All the unionists interviewed agreed that the protest movement took shape in a completely spontaneous manner without any specific leadership: The incident with Bouazizi, who was humiliated, sparked the revolution. One of the recurring themes in the unionists' remarks on their role in the popular uprising was "guidance". The interviewees emphasized the spontaneous nature of the movement and stated that they joined early on, to provide guidance. Unionists from base and intermediate unions adapted their strategy in reaction to the rising violence on the part of the regime and the uprising swelled. They put all their effort into changing the prudent, wait-and-see attitude of the national leadership, which had only expressed tepid support for the Sidi Bouzid, Kasserine and Thala movements.
